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R 301810Z MAY 08
FM AMCONSUL DURBAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1294
INFO RUEHDU/AMCONSUL DURBAN 0665
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA 0581
RUEHJB/AMEMBASSY BUJUMBURA 0007
RUEHLGB/AMEMBASSY KIGALI 0007
RUEHKI/AMEMBASSY KINSHASA 0004
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 DURBAN 000027 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  5/30/2018 
TAGS: SF ASEC CASC PGOV PHUM PREF CG BY RW
SUBJECT: XENOPHOBIA IN DURBAN:  KZN OFFICALS AND CIVIL SOCIETY 
CONDEMN XENOPHOBIA AND CRITICIZE GOVERNMENT POLICY 
 
REF: A.) PRETORIA 1088, B.) DURBAN 24, C.) DURBAN 26 
 
DURBAN 00000027  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: UDDINSD, POL/ECON Officer, CG DURBAN, STATE. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
Summary: 
 
 
 
¶1. (C) Beginning the week of May 19, local police, officials and 
NGO's confirmed the spread of violence targeting foreign 
nationals in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province.  By May 27, 
while fearful foreign nationals continued to seek safety away 
from their homes, no new incidents of violence against them were 
being reported.  Officials told us that the situation had been 
brought under control.  As many as 5,000 foreign nationals are 
estimated to have sought assistance/shelter at local police 
stations, churches, and diplomatic missions during the past two 
weeks.  Civil society has mobilized in KZN to offer assistance 
to the displaced and those who fear xenophobic attacks. 
Municipal and provincial officials condemned the events and 
called for increased government action.  Opposition leaders 
criticized the government's immigration policy.  Businesses also 
reported assisting their foreign workers and spoke out against 
the negative impact of xenophobic events on the KZN economy. 
 
 
 
End summary. 
 
 
 
¶2. (SBU) Local police confirmed the spread of violence targeting 
foreign nationals from Johannesburg to Durban in South Africa's 
KZN province starting May 21.  No incidents of anti-foreign 
violence have been confirmed outside of Durban in the rest of 
the province.  As of May 27, while fearful foreign nationals 
sought safety away from their homes, no new incidents of 
violence against them had been reported.  Ahead of May 27, 
several separate incidents were reported and confirmed in the 
past week.   A group of men from a local hostel attacked a 
Nigerian-owned tavern and burnt a car.  Two Congolese were 
attacked at a taxi rank and told to return to their country.  A 
Malawian national was shot while waiting at a bus stop after 
work.   Two Mozambicans were killed and the Mozambican Consul 
General believed those deaths were related to the xenophobic 
attacks.  Typically, people were going door-to-door telling the 
Mozambican (and other) citizens to go back to their country and 
then threatened them. 
 
 
 
FOREIGN NATIONALS SEEK ASSISTANCE IN ANTICIPATION OF VIOLENCE 
 
 
 
¶3. (SBU) According to numbers released by the eThekwini/Durban 
Mayor's Office, approximately 1,750 foreign nationals sought 
assistance/shelter between May 22 and 23.  Additional foreign 
nationals continue to seek assistance/shelter in anticipation of 
further violence or xenophobic threats.  Estimates of the total 
number have run as high as 5,000.  Information released by the 
mayor's office indicated that most of the displaced foreign 
nationals were Zimbabweans, Mozambicans, and Tanzanians.  Many 
of the displaced expressed a desire to return to their 
countries. 
 
 
 
¶4. (C) The Mozambican Consul General told us that in Cato Manor 
and Greenwood Park (both within the eThekwini/Durban 
municipality) Mozambican citizens had fled to police stations 
for safety.  The Mozambican Consul General confirmed that 
transport arrangements were made to bus the displaced back to 
Mozambique.  The Mozambican government provided bus service to 
361 of it nationals residing in KZN to return home on May 27. 
During the previous week another 450 had departed via buses 
organized by the Mozambican government.  The Consul General 
estimated that 32,000 Mozambicans have left South Africa since 
the violence started in Johannesburg, many of them arranging 
their own travel home.  He also commented on May 29 that the 
situation seemed to have calmed down. 
 
 
 
¶5. (U) A group of foreign nationals from Burundi, Rwanda and the 
Democratic Republic of Congo sought assistance at the Consulate 
on May 27, 28, and 29 (Reftel C).   On May 28, The Mercury ran a 
 
DURBAN 00000027  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
story that landlords in the Durban city center were evicting 
foreigners from their buildings.  The police was unable to 
confirm this reporting since officers though that foreigners 
would not report such incidents to them. 
 
 
 
CIVIL SOCIETY MOBILIZES TO OFFER ASSISTANCE 
 
 
 
¶6. (U) Civil society groups began organizing themselves on May 
20 in anticipation of requests for assistance.  The Diakonia 
Council of Churches has led much of the effort to mobilize the 
community against xenophobia and to assist the displaced.  The 
NGO community and religious leaders are also working together to 
discuss policy solutions to the current situation.  They would 
like to be included in the government response in addressing 
long-term issues such as the status of foreign nationals in 
South Africa.  Interfaith groups are currently providing shelter 
and other assistance to foreign nationals.  Many foreigners, who 
went to police stations in anticipation of violence, are being 
transferred to churches and other community groups for shelter. 
However, Diakonia has expressed concern about its capacity to 
support additional foreign nationals if the numbers seeking 
assistance continues to grow.  Interfaith groups and the Durban 
Red Cross are collecting food, clothing, and monetary donations 
to assist victims of xenophobia.  University students are 
running bread drives to assist civil society groups and the 
University of KZN sponsored a Forum to address xenophobia on May 
¶29. 
 
 
 
GOVERNMENT RESPONSE CRITICIZED 
 
 
 
¶7. (SBU) Durban mayor Obed Mlaba and senior provincial officials 
condemned the events during remarks at the annual African 
Renaissance Conference on May 23.  They expressed ''sadness and 
chagrin'' for the xenophobic attacks that took place in KZN. 
They also planned to increase engagement in the communities. 
The African National Congress (ANC) provincial officials did not 
blame the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) for inciting the violence 
at this event (Reftel A).  The IFP councilor present at the 
conference said that implications that the IFP was involved were 
''wrong and irresponsible.''  Some ANC members have shared 
similar sentiments with Consulate staff.  IFP President Prince 
Mangosuthu Buthelezi visited several of the sites affected by 
xenophobia in Johannesburg and Durban last week. 
 
 
 
¶8. (SBU) One municipal official was quite embarrassed by the 
slow reaction and lack of engagement of his own party, stating 
that civil society colleagues were screaming at him to have the 
municipality get out and do things in certain neighborhoods to 
ease the tension.  It is perceived that the local police has 
done a good job in responding to the outbreaks of violence, but 
social workers and councilors have been noticeably absent from 
the response efforts.  Contacts at the local police reported 
that on several occasions officers have had to go out and 
purchase food for the displaced.  The head of the province's 
Community Safety Department told us May 29 that city councilor's 
''disappeared'' when things turned difficult last week and the 
police had to step in and take on duties that are not really 
their job. 
 
 
 
¶9. (U) IFP leaders urged the government for more effective 
border controls and integration of foreign workers.  The IFP 
released a press statement on May 21 criticizing the national 
government for the lack of a clear immigration policy.  The 
release noted that ''the refugee system, which remains 
under-funded because of the dictates of the ruling Party, 
frustrates any rational efforts to control immigration.'' 
According to the IFP, anyone failing to qualify for an 
immigration permit can just apply for refugee status and the 
government does not have the capacity to grant and monitor 
refugee status effectively.  ''In the end, asylum seekers are 
allowed to stay in the country for years, even though they would 
not qualify for an immigration permit.'' 
 
DURBAN 00000027  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
 
 
 
XENOPHOBIA IMPACTS BUSINESSES AND TOURISM 
 
 
 
¶11. (U) KZN businesses reported being negatively impacted by the 
threat of xenophobic events.  Many employers in the area 
reported providing foreign employees with accommodations until 
they felt comfortable returning home.  Moyo Restaurant Branch 
Manager Bianca Erasmus told the press that Moyo's security 
company was providing daily transport to foreign employees who 
felt threatened.  Erasmus stated that about 30 percent of its 
waiters at its Ushaka Marine World branch were from other 
African countries. 
 
 
 
¶12. (U) Tourism KwaZulu-Natal (TKZN) CEO Ndabo Khoza held a 
press conference in Durban on May 27 to condemn the xenophobic 
violence and outline steps to curb the negative impact on 
tourism in KZN.  Khoza noted that Africa is South Africa's most 
important source of foreign visitors and tourism income.  He 
added that ''in terms of spending per trip by international 
tourists in 2006, visitors from Mozambique topped the list, each 
spending R21,000 ($2,700).''  Spending by tourists from Angola 
($1,660), India ($1,500), Nigeria ($1,480), and U.S. ($1,430) 
rounded out the top five list.  TKZN Chairman Seshi Chonco said 
that ''after the domestic tourism market, Africa was the 
province's most important source of tourists.''  The African 
market accounts for 67% (6.8 million) of foreign visitors and 
generates as much as R4 billion ($519 million) a year in 
revenues.  Fear is that continued violence of threats to 
foreigners would keep African tourists (many who travel to South 
Africa from the region for short shopping trips) away from the 
province.  Chonco described ''overnight tourists'' from 
neighboring towns in Swaziland, Mozambique, and Lesotho as the 
bread and butter for the KZN border towns and thought the 
xenophobic incidents put that at risk.  Khoza and Chonco hoped 
to send a positive message to nurture the ''valuable African 
tourism market.'' 
 
 
 
¶13. (C) Comment.  The spread of xenophobic violence and 
anti-foreign sentiments has several socio-economic implications 
for the KZN.  Tensions could rise in a region that has suffered 
from a history of political violence if the ANC and IFP blame 
political motivations for the flare-up of violence.  It could 
also mutate in a way that brings to the surface latent tensions 
between the Indian and African communities in the province 
(another area where there has been a history of sporadic 
violence).  There are no clear estimates of the number of 
foreign nationals/refugees residing and working in the region. 
Many foreign nationals, who had the resources to return to their 
home countries, have already left South Africa.  Many foreign 
nationals who remain do not have the resources to leave or fear 
returning to unstable home countries.  If violence or threats to 
foreigners increases dramatically, civil society groups in the 
province will not have the resources to shelter or assist all of 
the vulnerable foreign nationals.  Continued violence could also 
threaten progress the province has made in attracting foreign 
investors and in modeling itself as a premier destination for 
international tourists.  End Comment. 
YOUNG